Into The Dragon's World

by Brittany White

  Evan appeared from behind an outcropping of rock. Casey could see that he held something limp and bloody in his left hand. A rabbit, it looked like. He sat down against the wall across from her and began to eat, taking huge, messy bites out of the rabbit.

  “I know you’re awake,” he said quietly, swallowing a bite. “Might as well sit up.”

  Cursing under her breath, Casey slowly sat up again.

  “I would’ve brought you something,” he said and held up the rabbit carcass, “but you’re not going to be around long enough to eat anything.”

  Casey said nothing. She couldn’t let him see how terrified she was. He was enjoying her fear, feeding off it.

  “I’ll bet you’re wondering why I chose you,” he said, then nibbled raw flesh off the rabbit’s leg bone. “It wasn’t because you’re the most beautiful woman in the world or anything like that, because...well, let’s face it. There are prettier girls out there.”

  He paused, as if waiting to see her hurt reaction. Instead, she glared at him, stone-faced.

  “You’re not the smartest of them all, either. There is absolutely nothing notable or extraordinary about you.” He flashed her a toothy grin. “In fact, you are spectacularly unspectacular. There is nothing about you that makes you stand out in a crowd.”

  Casey remained silent, gritting her teeth.

  “But you were vulnerable. I could smell it on you.” He tossed a bone away and immediately started gnawing on another one. “I watched you on campus. Listened to the gossip. Apparently, that boy you were sleeping with—Paul? Was that his name?—liked to tell stories. He got you to do anything for him, didn’t he?”

  It was killing her, but she said nothing.

  “You were a pushover,” Evan said, leaning forward slightly. “Weak. Desperate. I knew you wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Hell, I thought you might even enjoy having somebody pay attention to you for once.”

  Don’t listen to him, she told herself. That’s not true. None of it’s true.

  “It’s fun, doing what I do.” He licked blood off his fingers. “You should feel honored that I chose you. I only do the Hunt two or three times a year.”

  “The Hunt?” Casey clenched her aching jaw.

  “Mm-hmm...oh, yeah.” Evan finished with the rabbit and threw what remained of it aside. “I thought about letting you go after you disappeared on me, but then I realized...I actually wanted you.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Can you believe that? I actually really wanted to fuck you.”

  Casey’s stomach churned. She pressed her lips together tightly, fighting back the urge to vomit.

  “And when you brought that asshole boyfriend into the picture, well…” Evan gracefully stood again. “That just made things even more interesting.”

  Casey scrambled to her feet. She regretted the wall at her back now. She had nowhere to go.

  “That’s right, Casey-girl. Don’t even think about trying to run.” He smiled with infuriating cockiness, almost strutting as he walked over to her. “It’s just you and me now.”

  He reached out and rested his open hand on Casey’s shoulder. In an instant, it formed into the paw of a bear. She could feel the tips of his razor claws pricking through her sweatshirt, barely grazing her skin. He flexed his hand and the claws punctured flesh. Hot rivulets of blood trickled down her arm and chest.

  She forced herself to have no reaction. He watched her eyes carefully, looking for that cringe of pain, that flash of fear.

  “I had a lot of time to think about you,” he said quietly, his breath hot and foul in her face. “Not just what I would do to you...but what I would do to that pretty friend of yours.” His smile twisted. “Or your boyfriend.”

  “Leave them alone,” Casey whispered.

  Evan wrinkled up his nose and shook his head. “Nah...I don’t think I will.”

  “Please…” Casey heard the desperation in her voice and hated it.

  “Maybe I’ll bring you his head on a silver platter,” Evan said, stepping forward and pressing Casey against the cave wall. “Or maybe I’ll rip off his dick and make you watch me feed it to him.”

  “No…”

  He dug his claws in just a bit deeper. Casey groaned, fighting to keep her pain hidden. Evan’s eyes shone in the torchlight. He leaned in close to her, sniffing her hair and neck and throat. She heard him growl as he pulled back to look at her again.

  “A child,” he said quietly. “You’re pregnant.”

  Tears burned Casey’s eyes, but she remained silent.

  He sniffed her again, making his way down her body, then back up again. The claws embedded in her shoulder went deeper. He grimaced in disgust.

  “You let him fuck you,” he said with deadly coldness. Evan withdrew his claws and took a step back, distaste and disgust in his eyes. “You let him fuck you!” he screamed.

  Casey cringed away from him, covering her belly with folded arms. Evan stalked away from her, shifting into his bear form, roaring as he clawed and slammed his fists into the stone walls. He stopped for a moment, his back to her, panting for breath. Casey watched his bear paws flex into tight fists, his own claws tearing at his palms. For a moment, the only sound was the soft dripping of his blood onto the ground.

  He turned to face her again, shifting back into his human form, smiling as if he hadn’t just lost his mind.

  “Everything’s okay...it’s just a bastard, just a bastard,” he whispered, closing his eyes tightly for just a moment. When he looked at her again, his gaze was enraged but controlled. “We’ll just have to take care of that little problem later, won’t we?”

  Casey knew that pleading with him for her baby’s life would be useless. He wanted to see her on her knees, begging him to spare her.

  No. Never.

  She spat at his feet, daring him to make his move. “Fuck you,” she said quietly, steel in her voice.

  Evan chuckled. “No, dear...I think it’s the other way around.”

  He slammed his fist into the side of her head, and she knew no more.

  28

  Brady

  I’ve been here before...

  If anyone was in this part of Central Park, they were keeping themselves well-hidden. Brady recognized the area from his last bear hunt: the Ramble. He touched down on a dirt path, instantly shifting back to his human shape. The scent of Casey was strong here, her fear overwhelming. He looked around, his dragon eyes searching for any sign of life and finding only a few rabbits, an owl, some squirrels. This was one of the most heavily wooded areas in the park. Wild and overgrown, it was dotted with hills and winding paths. It’d be very easy to get lost.

  Brady turned in a half-circle. The lake was to the left of him. Had he lost the scent because of the water? There was no place Wallace could have gone.

  Behind him, something growled. Brady turned to see a huge, silver-gray wolf with its nose to the ground.

  “She’s here,” Brady said, every nerve in his body urging him to do something, anything. “You smell her, too?”

  The wolf reared up on its hind legs, shifting back into Zack’s human form. “Yeah. But it ends here.”

  “God damn it,” Brady muttered, driving a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “Wait a second…” Zack looked around. “Where are we? The Ramble?”

  “Yeah...I’ve tracked him here once before. I can follow him up to this spot and then it disappears.”

  Zack ran ahead. “Fuck me…”

  “What?”

  “This is Ramble Arch, right?” Zack didn’t wait for Brady’s reply. Ramble Arch was just a narrow stone structure built between two hills. He jumped a fence and climbed onto higher ground. “It should be around here…”

  Brady’s patience was quickly fading. “Zack!”

  “You know about the cave, right?” Zack spoke as he peered down at a small inlet off the lake. It pooled in a small, stone-lined area.

  “What cave?” Brady hopped the fence and joined him. “What are you
looking for?”

  “The steps…” Zack glanced at Brady and saw the confusion on his face. “Okay...there used to be a cave right around here, long time ago. Big tourist thing for a while. Then it got bricked up after a bunch of attacks.”

  “And?”

  Zack grinned. “Found ‘em. Come on.”

  Narrow steps hewn from stone led down to the inlet. The steps were overgrown with weeds and hard to navigate. Brady’s foot slid on some moss, but he caught himself before he could crash into Zack. At the bottom of the steps, the inlet was shallow, two or three feet deep at most, and dotted with small islands of stones.

  Without saying a word, Zack pointed to the entrance of the cave.

  It had been bricked up once. Now, the bricks were strewn everywhere, the result of the brute force used to shatter the wall. The entrance to the cave was narrow and claustrophobic. Brady realized that if Wallace was in there, he must have had to transform into human form first.

  They walked through the stagnant water slowly, making as little sound as possible. Now, Brady could pick up Casey’s scent again. She was here, somewhere. Wallace’s smell was fierce. He must be living here, Brady realized. This is where he disappeared to when we were gone.

  Zack held up a hand, signaling Brady to stop. At the mouth of the cave, Zack slowly looked around the corner, peering into the darkness. Brady knew that a wolf’s eyes could see in the dark almost as well as a dragon’s. Still looking inside, Zack gestured Brady forward. Brady was barely able to control the urge to move faster. The scent of Casey’s fear was overwhelming.

  They stepped into the cave and hesitated a moment, listening. Brady could see that the cavern had high ceilings, stone outcroppings, and a rocky dirt floor. Just ahead, he could see the faint flicker of firelight in another chamber. Zack saw it, too.

  As they crept closer, Brady heard voices. Wallace. Casey.

  “...it’s just a bastard, just a bastard.” Wallace’s voice sounded thick, as if he was trying to talk through his shift into bear. “We’ll just have to take care of that little problem later.”

  “Fuck you!” Casey’s rage-filled voice was undeniable. Brady moved faster now, Zack just behind him.

  Wallace’s furious growl echoed through the cave, followed by a solid thud and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

  Casey! Brady couldn’t hold himself back and charged into the chamber. Wallace turned to face him, fully transformed. In bear form, he towered over Brady, a massive wall of muscle and claw and teeth. Brady glanced behind him and saw Casey crumpled on the cave floor. He couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

  Brady! Zack’s voice resounded in his mind. Get her and go! Now!

  Zack’s wolf form leapt from the shadows, jaws snapping, and managed to knock the bear off its feet. Brady ran to Casey, picking her up in a fireman’s carry as he edged around the melee. He hesitated a moment. Zack needed help. The bear was too big, too strong for a wolf to take down alone. Its claws slashed at Zack’s sides even as Zack’s fangs bit divots out of the bear’s shoulders.

  Go! Zack’s shout reverberated through Brady’s mind.

  “God damn it,” Brady muttered in helpless frustration. He side-stepped Casey out of the cave’s narrow entrance, carrying her to a narrow bank along the inlet. He listened for her breathing. Felt for her pulse. A dark bruise was forming over her left jaw and cheek, but she was alive. He closed his eyes for a moment. She was alive.

  He bent forward, pressing his forehead against hers, almost sobbing with relief. He breathed her in deeply, taking in her scent of roses and musk and sweat and…

  Brady leaned back slightly. He took another long, deep breath.

  She was pregnant. How had he not known earlier?

  Before Brady’s mind could fully grasp the reality of his child, Zack’s wolf yelped in pain and was silent. The quiet pressed in on Brady. He was torn—now, more than ever, he needed to protect Casey.

  But Zack…

  Brady forced himself to move away from Casey and took a few steps back towards the cave entrance just as Wallace appeared. He had gone back to human form and was torn and bloody. His eyes were crazed. He smiled, baring bloody teeth, and stepped through the entrance.

  In a heartbeat, he shifted to bear again, monstrous with his blood-matted fur and gnashing fangs, his head raised to the sky in a roar. He lowered his head and huffed through his nose like a bull preparing to charge, bottomless black eyes fixated on one thing: Casey.

  In a heartbeat, Brady’s human form shifted into a dragon and he unfurled his wings with a powerful snap. He raised himself to his full height and roared back, pure rage echoing through the quiet of the park. He wanted to hurt Wallace. Make him scream. Make him burn.

  Brady spit a jet of white flame over Wallace, a five-second burst that engulfed the bear. Wallace seemed to shrug it off, coming out of the fire with patches of smoldering fur but unhurt. He ignored the fire as he stalked towards Brady, his muzzle dripping with foam and saliva, his teeth bared.

  He leaped forward, catching Brady across the stomach with a powerful swipe of his claws. The scales protecting Brady’s chest and belly were thick, but the blow brought blood. Brady roared in pain and rage and whipped his tail around, catching the bear off guard and knocking him sprawling into the shallow water of the inlet. Another burst of flame and the water turned to steam.

  Everything stopped for a moment.

  Brady could hear the soft sounds of the woods—crickets, frogs, a few singing night birds. He could hear Casey’s faint exhalations as she breathed. He could hear a plane passing by high overhead and the hum of electricity zipping through the lines.

  But he couldn’t hear Wallace moving. Or breathing.

  Brady waited for the steam to dissipate, every muscle in his dragon body tensed and ready to spring. He put himself between Wallace and Casey, wings spread wide, tail slowly undulating. He turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of movement on the shore.

  The bear suddenly charged out of the steam and rammed head-first into the dragon’s belly. Brady, knocked off balance, slammed backward into the water. Before he could raise himself, Wallace was on top of him, driving one massive paw against his head, then another. Brady thrashed beneath him, trying to throw off his weight, but Wallace dug his claws into Brady’s chest, shredding his scales and digging deeper into his flesh.

  Brady fought to raise his head to send another torrent of fire at Wallace, but the bear kept one paw gripped around Brady’s lower jaw, forcing his mouth away. Brady bucked and grappled with him as Wallace snapped his powerful jaws at his throat. With the entire weight of the bear atop him, he couldn’t regain his footing.

  An explosion of pain shot through Brady as Wallace swiped at his chest, carving four long divots from shoulder to hip. He roared and struggled, but Wallace held him down easily, forcing his head back further and further, exposing his throat.

  Wallace bellowed in triumph and went for the kill.

  29

  Casey

  Casey fought her way up from the drowning darkness, clawing towards the light.

  Her eyes fluttered, opened, shut again as pain shot through her entire body. Her senses came back to her slowly. She could hear the splash of water and roars of rage. Smell the sharp tang of fresh blood and burned flesh. She was outside now somehow.

  The last thing she remembered was Wallace’s claw swinging towards her head. She had thought she was going to die. In that moment, she saw the flash of an image: Brady, holding their child and smiling at her. And then everything was gone.

  The sounds of fighting grew fiercer and Casey rose up on one elbow, fighting the urge to vomit. Her head swam. She took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up.

  And she saw them.

  Brady had shifted into the magnificent dragon she had seen that night in the grotto—scarlet red, with wide-spanning wings and lithe, powerful limbs. Wallace was nearly as tall, but his body was thick with muscle. They circled each other warily at first, bu
t Brady kept himself between her and Wallace. Wallace launched his attack, trying to knock Brady over, and they grappled fiercely. Brady was finally able to push Wallace away and instantly blasted him with a river of fire. The water around them turned to steam, and Casey could smell the acrid stench of burned animal hair and charred flesh.

  Wallace couldn’t have survived that, she thought. She watched Brady’s dragon slowly flap its wings, his tail moving deliberately through the shallow water. The stillness of the air was suffocating. She wanted to call out to Brady but didn’t dare distract him. Time stopped.

  She stood shakily.

  She saw the dragon’s head turn in her direction, and suddenly the bear was on him, tackling him, driving him deeper into the water. Wallace’s jaws snapped fiercely as he clawed at Brady’s chest and belly, digging for that one soft spot that would end it.

  Casey looked around frantically. Something—anything—to help Brady…

  Almost without consciously thinking about it, she grabbed a chunk of brick from the fragments of wall that littered the ground. She didn’t know what she was going to do until she had done it, jumping onto Wallace’s bear form and clinging to his back. She dug one fist into the coarse, matted fur and raised the brick high—

  Casey! No!

  She heard Brady’s voice screaming in her mind, but there was nothing left to be done but kill the bastard. Grunting with effort, she brought the brick down hard against the bear’s ear. Another downward swing and she heard the crack of his skull. Another swing and she hit him between the eyes. She was dimly aware of her own screams, but heard only Wallace’s howls of pain.

  Wallace roared, staggering away from Brady long enough to grab Casey by the arm and hurl her away from him. Casey screamed as she flew backward. She heard the crunch of her head hitting stone, but felt nothing.

  As blackness took her again, she saw Brady rise up, wings fully extended—his head thrown back as a plume of fire shot into the sky.

  And then...nothing.