by Eden Robins
She tried to hold back, tried to keep herself contained, but Thomas’ mocking voice stirred her blood to battle even more.
“You see, Sabrina. Look at you, trying to be a civilized, polite human. You are neither,” he said with a sneer. “You are always on the edge, as we all are, struggling with the two forms that belong to us. Humans don’t know us at all. And that’s just the way it should be. It’s the only way we can hold the upper hand, because once they know our strengths and weaknesses, what will we have left to protect ourselves?”
Thomas slid his hands up her arms to her shoulders and he pulled her to her feet. She stood up for no other reason then to ground herself against his physical intimidations. He shook her. Sabrina struggled for calm, clenching her teeth, widening her stance and stiffening her body so that it was difficult for him to move her.
It wasn’t much of a deterrent.
Despite his age, she realized, he was quite strong. This was going to become sticky and messy in no time. And she didn’t know how she could avoid it. She quickly glanced around the room and saw that everyone else was now standing, mouths agape, looks of horror on their faces as they watched Sabrina and the madman who now held her.
But where was Eric?
She didn’t have time to ponder his disappearance because Thomas decided to give her another good shake. That seemed to break the spell around them.
“Sabrina!” Helaina gasped.
“Thomas! Let go of Sabrina! What do you think you’re doing coming into my home and assaulting my daughter?” Manuel demanded, stalking toward them with murder and dragon fury glowing in his eyes.
“I’m not finished talking with her, Manuel. She needs to understand her stupidity. She needs to realize that she is threatening us all by—”
Thomas never got to finish his sentence. He was yanked backward, releasing Sabrina’s shoulders as his arms flailed wildly about. Eric quickly brought Thomas down to the ground, onto his stomach with his hands pressed behind him. Eric had one knee on the man’s back, keeping him in place.
Thomas’ red face turned a deeper shade, almost purple, as he struggled against Eric’s hold. “Release me!”
“Manuel asked you very politely to leave his daughter alone. Which part of that request did you not understand?” Eric asked calmly, as if all of Thomas’ struggles were nothing to him.
“You don’t know what you’re involving yourself in here,” Thomas said through gritted teeth as he continued to fight Eric’s hold. “This is not your concern. You are merely a human, nothing more. You can’t understand the dynamics of this crisis, so stay out of it before you find yourself in trouble.”
Eric smiled. Almost. But instead of reassuring her, it made her more apprehensive about how the situation would turn out. He looked like little more than an animal baring its teeth, like a wolf threatening an enemy before attacking.
Are you threatening me?” Eric asked, putting a little more weight on his knee where it pushed into Thomas’ back. The older man flinched at the pain but replied without hesitation.
“It’s not a threat, human. It’s a promise, one that will be fulfilled if you continue to interfere. But not now, not now. For the moment, I will give in to you.”
Thomas relaxed his body, lying perfectly still with his head resting on the ground.
Eric immediately released him and removed his knee from the man’s back. Everyone watched silently, waiting to see what Thomas would do. Eric stood over him, ready to bring the man down again if he chose to get violent once more.
All eyes on Thomas, no one saw his wife coming until too late. Screaming like a banshee, she grabbed Sabrina by the waist and pressed a knife to her throat. Sabrina felt the cold blade against her throat and froze. Eric swung around, cursing under his breath, and met Sabrina’s gaze. His golden eyes flared wide. They told her in a few seconds what he had never been able to say during their time together. Everything was there—love, admiration, respect and desire.
They stared at one another for just a snapshot in time, yet it was enough. Sabrina understood. But as she felt the tip of the knife break her skin, she wondered if it was too late. Timing was everything, people always said. It often even preceded love and desire. If the timing wasn’t right, things sometimes never worked out. People who cared deeply for one another may never meet, or may meet during a period when it wasn’t possible for things to develop into more.
Sabrina distantly realized that something was dripping down her neck. It must be blood, her blood. Her heart sped up. She was scared, but not so much about her own death. It was more the thought that she and Eric had had all they would ever have. That the time they had been together had been all they would get in this life. Just a taste of paradise, but nothing more. Not enough. Never enough.
Timing was everything.
Eric frowned as he continued to meet her gaze. She knew tears were forming in her eyes, she knew sadness weighed heavily in her heart. She didn’t want things to end this way. It was too soon. She had so much to accomplish still. Plus, there was a certain man she needed to set straight once and for all.
Behind Eric, Thomas leapt to his feet, an arrogant smirk spreading across his mouth. Her eyes must have warned Eric because he swung around and hit the man in the face with his fist. Thomas went down like a ton of bricks.
MaryAnn gasped but didn’t release her. Instead she started to back out of the room, keeping a tight hold on Sabrina.
“No one come near me, or I will stick my knife deep into this traitor’s throat and kill her,” she said very carefully in an unwavering voice that told Sabrina she would do exactly what she said. “Tell Thomas I’m sorry, but the cause is more important. He’ll understand. We all understand.”
Sabrina didn’t understand. She glanced at her parents. They tried to reassure her with eyes full of love, but the fear she saw behind their glances worried her.
Every fiber in her wanted to fight and pull out of MaryAnn’s hold, but the tip of the blade kept her from doing so.
“MaryAnn, let Sabrina go,” Eric said. “You know as well as I do that you can’t handle this alone. Your plan obviously didn’t involve Thomas getting knocked out. Give up now and things will go easier for you. If you try to do this alone you may get hurt in the process. You don’t want that, do you?”
Eric sounded very calm and reasonable as he followed from a distance. He waved everyone back while he kept a certain amount of space between himself and MaryAnn as they moved toward the front door, yet he never stopped.
Sabrina gasped, lifted her chin and stood on tiptoe as MaryAnn dug the knife deeper into her skin.
“Stay back! Or she will get hurt even worse,” MaryAnn warned, her voice slightly shaky now. “As my husband said, you don’t know anything about this, human. And I’m not doing this alone.”
As if to prove her point, just as MaryAnn was about to reach the front door, Sabrina heard something that sounded a little like a fire catching on and flaring to life in a fireplace. The boom of a small explosion soon followed. Then the door tilted forward off its hinges and fell to the ground, just missing the two of them.
MaryAnn swung around to face the now open doorway. Sabrina couldn’t hold back the gasp of fear when she saw who stood there with a crazed light in his eyes. That was what had been so familiar about Thomas and MaryAnn. They also had that same crazed look in their gazes. Now she knew why.
Magnus stood in the doorway, looking around him in disdain before his eyes finally came to rest on Sabrina. His gaze narrowed and a cruel smile played across his lips. He slowly perused her body from head to toe before meeting her stare once more.
The lusty leer in his eyes was obvious. He wanted her. Sabrina’s skin crawled. The thought of this psycho touching her was revolting.
“We meet again, Sabrina. But this time, nothing will stop me from finishing what I start.”
“I’d have to disagree with that statement, Magnus. I stopped you before and I’ll stop you again,” Eric said, slowly s
tepping closer.
Magnus didn’t seem fazed by his proximity.
“Ah, my student. I see you are still persisting in this futile effort,” Magnus said. “But why? Why would you interfere with such a thing? You are a dragon slayer, just as I am. Your mission has been the same as mine for centuries. Kill dragons.”
Eric heard a collective gasp around him, but he ignored all save one.
Sabrina.
She looked over her shoulder at him, pulling slightly away from the knife at her throat. And her stare told him everything. First her eyes widened with shock as she gasped her surprise. Then her expression filled with horror. Soon that changed to something else. Her gaze became heated, but not with the desire he loved to see burning in her eyes. Instead they glowed with hatred and loathing.
For him.
“Our goal is clear, Eric,” Magnus continued. “So beautiful in its simplicity, don’t you think? Kill dragons, rid the world of the nasty creatures so it can be clean and whole again. Our job is vital, sacred and holy. Why do you fight against it now?”
Eric let his old teacher ramble as he planned his strategy. He tried not to think about the fact that Sabrina now knew who and what he was. There was nothing he could do about that. All he could focus on now was saving her.
Her protection should have been his main priority from the beginning. Especially after what he had learned from Maria that very evening. He should have been watchful of everyone in the room, regardless of who or what they were.
He should have gone to Sabrina sooner. He should have stayed by her side from the beginning of the evening and not left it. He had learned from Maria that some of Sabrina’s own kind had turned against her. He shouldn’t have assumed everyone at the party was safe.
He shouldn’t have let his emotions get in the way once again.
Should have, should have, should have… Damn it!
Why had he let jealousy rule him? Why had the sight of Sabrina talking to Xavier clouded his judgment and rationale? Watching him kiss her hand and hearing them laughing together had almost thrown him into a jealous rage. Eric had never felt jealous before but in that moment he’d wanted nothing more than to plant his fist in the guy’s face and wipe away his arrogant smile. And when he was finished, Eric would have taken Sabrina away to some place only he knew. Then he would have made love to her over and over until she knew she was his, only his.
That had been his only thought as he sat down for dinner with the other guests. And when he found an attractive woman by his side, he had acted impulsively. He had wanted to show Sabrina that he could get any woman he wanted. He wanted her to feel the jealousy that was tearing him apart.
In those moments he had lost the ability to think clearly. He had resorted to primal emotions and behavior. Eric had ceased being the professional he strove hard to always be.
And now his ineptitude could cost him and Sabrina dearly.
Not that Magnus would get away with this, of course. The only way that could possibly happen would be over Eric’s cold, dead corpse. He would save Sabrina. He just needed to time it right.
So Eric let the old man talk, again amazed that someone who was once so brilliant could become so crazed and out of touch with reality. That this once great man was reduced to a stalking killer saddened him. But now that was of no consequence. Magnus had his woman. That’s all that mattered. Sabrina belonged to him. Her life was precious and he would protect it with his own.
His woman.
As he watched the fear play over Sabrina’s face, his gut twisted and his heart sped out of control. His mind went back to that night he’d told her goodbye. Fear then sadness had played in her eyes then too. Her tear-filled gaze had haunted him for months after that. He would never forget the way the intelligence, shining vitality and hope had just dimmed and disappeared from her gaze as he’d spoken those fated words. He had been so caught up in his duty as a slayer, in the almost certain impossibility of things working out between them, and of course the little matter of him being an immortal.
Now the cards were stacked even higher against him. She was a dragon, and he was a dragon slayer. But he couldn’t think about it, not in that moment as he watched Sabrina get taken. The pretense, egocentric attitudes, their differences, none of it mattered now. He had to focus on saving Sabrina. He moved closer, ever so slightly. Barely more than a small, subtle movement, but it gained him some ground. Magnus was so lost in the sound of his own words that he seemed oblivious to him, and MaryAnn watched the old man with a fevered adoration that made him wonder at the true nature of their relationship.
Eric was so focused on a strategy for saving Sabrina that he forgot one very important rule of his profession. Never underestimate your enemy. Never assume they are down for good. He heard his name called out in warning too late. Swinging around, he tried to catch his attacker but failed. Eric felt the knife puncture his side before he could stop it. Thomas pushed him and he fell backward, hitting his head on the hard floor as he went down.
He saw Thomas’ smirking face above him as the world tilted. He heard Sabrina scream his name as if from the other end of a tunnel. He fought the dizziness but it was no use. His brain grew fuzzy and the world shrank to a small pinpoint of light.
Still, despite reality quickly slipping away, one thought played like an old recording over and over in his mind, filling him with anger and shame.
He had failed Sabrina. He had failed Sabrina. He had failed Sabrina.
He had failed Sabrina…again.
That thought followed him into oblivion, taunting him over and over as the world grew dark.
Chapter Sixteen
Sabrina screamed as Eric crumpled to the ground. The sight of him, still and seemingly lifeless on the ground, was too much. Dragon fury filled her in a way it rarely had in the past.
She knew she shouldn’t care. She knew she should be glad he might be dead, glad a dragon slayer, an enemy to her people and such an adept deceiver, would no longer walk this earth. He had spent his life killing her kind. He had lied to her over and over again when they’d dated, never once hinting at his true profession. She had let him into her heart and her home. She had trusted him. The fact that he had dumped her so easily should have told her just what an untrustworthy person he was.
But what about you? You should have done more.
The voice in Sabrina’s head couldn’t be denied.
Okay, so she should have tried harder, she should have done more to open up to him. She should have dropped her guard and let him closer.
Should, should, should!
Sabrina hated that word. Why did there have to be shoulds in this world? Should was for people filled with fear. Life was not about fear. It was about love. She wouldn’t live her life in the shadow of shoulds and fears. Never.
That was not living.
She would save the man she loved, despite the deception. And then once things were settled, and they would be settled if she had any say in the matter, she would demand an explanation from Eric. And if it wasn’t sufficient in her mind she would strangle him herself.
Sabrina reached out and found her power. She let it fill her. Energy vibrated through her body, faster and faster, swirling inside and outside. She felt the change come upon her just as Magnus turned her way and realized what was going on.
He started to chant some words but it was too late. He wouldn’t stop her this time with his magic. Nothing would stop her. She knew what she had to do, and she would do it. That was that.
Sabrina leaned her head back and roared in triumph as the transformation was completed. The sound of it shook the walls of her parents’ home but she didn’t care. She was free. Free to spread her wings and fly.
As her human shell fell away Sabrina turned to MaryAnn and clawed the knife from her hand. MaryAnn screamed in frustration. Then she and Thomas tried to transform. But before they could complete the transformation, she swung her tail around, hitting them both in the chest and knocking them to the
floor unconscious.
Her parents ran over to the errant council elders just as a horribly evil laugh filled the air. Swinging around, she saw Magnus leaning over Eric. Knife raised, he arched downward.
Unfurling her wings, Sabrina struck Magnus to the ground. The knife flew out of his hand. It clattered to the floor a few feet away and one of her parents’ friends grabbed it. But her actions didn’t deter Magnus in the least. Squaring his shoulders, determination filling his eyes, the ancient dragon slayer stood up, stepped over Eric and strode toward her with anticipation in his eyes, as if she posed absolutely no threat to him. Sabrina understood in that instant why so many of her kind were frightened of this man. He was no ordinary man. He had no fear of her or her people. He knew his deadly mission in life and reveled in it, to the point that he had become fanatically insane.
Sabrina realized that the only thing in her favor was his arrogance. He assumed she would be easily slain like so many others. And he probably would assume she would fight and defend herself like other dragons had in the past. She would use that to her advantage. Her self-defense classes would come in handy after all. That was one of the most important tactics she had learned in class—the element of surprise. And she would use it against this ancient slayer.
Magnus never reached her. Before he got too close, she swung around and lashed out at him with her tail. It was a kick move she had learned in class as a human. But she had also practiced it at home in dragon form. Sabrina had discovered that her tail worked much better than her leg. Not only did she have enormous power in her tail, but she also had spikes along its ridge. Her tail struck him in the middle of the chest and she felt the spikes dig in. She quickly pulled her tail back and stepped forward. His eyes wide with shock, the slayer stumbled backward. Before he could recover, she used her tail again. Her aim was true and he stumbled back once more as her spikes dug deep into his flesh. But this time when she pulled her tail back, Magnus fell. And he landed just where she wanted him. Right beside Eric. Sabrina pressed her snout into his now bloody chest, pushing the dragon slayer to the ground. His head hit the floor. He tried to sit up. She did it again and again his head made contact. The third time she did it, Magnus gasped and stayed down. He raised his hands above his head in surrender.