by Cree Storm
Seeing something sparkling below, Gio leaned in yelling, “Take us lower, Taco. I think I see the intruder.”
Taco did as Gio instructed hearing shouting in his mind. “Gio! Taco! Damn it, get your asses back to the house!”
“I’m sorry, Cobra. I can’t allow you or the others to get hurt. Please understand I have to take care of this.” Gio whispered in their link.
“Sweetheart, I know you want to save us from the danger, but… I can’t lose you, Gio. Please, just go home. My men and I can handle your brother.” Cobra rasped, sounding more scared than Gio had ever heard him before.
“I can’t do that, Cobra. This is my problem and I’ll take care of it.” Gio insisted.
“We all take care of it. That’s what D.O.A. is. We’re a team. We work together and take out those that are hurting humans and we know no one else can handle. Gio and I will do what we can. My dragon clan is here to help us until you guys can get into place.” Taco stated firmly.
“It might be my father. If he knows where we are he could be the one here just as much as it might be my brother.” Gio suggested.
Sighing, Cobra said, “He knows exactly where Drago is. Pit said that when he got to Clem he was alive but barely. He told Pit that your father paid him a visit. He told Pit that your father knew where you were but was looking for your brother. He left when he heard Pit’s bike.”
“Oh gods, Cobra. Teagan’s in danger when I deal with this we have to find him! He… he…”
“He’s already here, Gio. It’s why Pit and Bren took longer than they were supposed to. He’s okay, but... he… he…”
“He what? What’s wrong with Teagan? Oh gods, tell me!” Gio shouted loud enough to make Taco hiss.
“He’s in a coma, Gio. Clem told Pit that when you brought Teagan to him he was in really bad shape. He placed him in a hospital and he personally guarded Teagan. He slipped into a coma. Teagan stayed in the hospital for a long time and then had to be moved to a private nursing facility. Everything was fine until about a year ago. Clem got a call from the place Teagan was staying. They said someone was asking about any John Does. Clem pulled Teagan out of there and took him to somewhere safe and hired a nurse to care for him. Pit got your brother and brought him here.” Cobra gently explained.
Gio felt sadness, fear, and then an overwhelming sense of anger. His father had done this. His father had hurt Teagan, leaving the man in a coma.
The more Gio thought about the day his father had beaten his brother practically to death the angrier he became until he growled, “He will die.”
“Gio! Gio what are you doing?” Cobra yelled within their link.
“What I should have done years ago. I’m going to kill the son of a bitch!” Gio snapped, closing off his link as Cobra shouted his name.
Leaning over Taco once more, Gio snarled, “Take me down.”
Even though he knew Taco wanted to argue with him, Taco did as Gio ordered. Once they were on the ground, Gio raised his arms calling on the energy around him. Clouds formed and the lightning and thunder ripped through the air all around them.
Marching closer to the form lying on the ground, Gio could tell it was Kace. “Stand and prepare to die! My father has done enough damage to my old family, I’ll be damned if I’ll allow you to do anything to this one. Now stand and fight!”
Dragons flew overhead. Gio could see Smoky, Azul, Spirit, and Talpa were close. Most likely using their links with their sentiences to tell them what was happening. However, movement from the man under the tree reminded Gio he needed to focus on his current situation. “Look at me, damn it!”
Kace slowly moved his head enough to look at Gio, rasping, “He… he’s c-coming. Ne… needed to w-warn… cou… couldn’t st-stop him a… and others.”
Gio felt his anger drain from his body. He knew he shouldn’t trust anything coming out of Kace’s mouth, but for some reason his heart was arguing with his mind.
“He’s badly injured, Gio. I… I don’t know if he’s going to make it.” Taco said, his voice filled with concern.
“Father is coming. I expected that, but what others?” Gio asked to no one in particular.
Kace stammered, “Tri… tried to sto… stop. He… here.”
“He’s here? Where?” Gio asked, rushing to Kace’s side.
Kace groaned, his breath hitching each time he tried to draw in air. Blood was dripping from his mouth and Taco whispered, “He is dying, Gio. We need Jude.”
Gio looked up, shouting, “Smoky, we need Jude quickly.”
Kace snagged Gio’s wrist surprisingly hard. “G… go. Th… they’re com… coming. Dr… dropped th-them be… before bor… border. Th… they wi… will come.”
“Who? Who is they?” Gio asked anxiously.
Smoky landed just feet away, and Jude dropped to the ground with a black bag. His mate was with him as they rushed to Gio, Taco, and Kace.
Jude pulled out his stethoscope, “Lay him flat on the ground.”
Casper did as his sentience ordered, and as soon as he was in the prone position, Jude started listening to Kace’s heart and lungs. Once he finished that, Jude took the earpieces out of his ears and started to gently press on Kace’s abdomen.
Gio watched until he heard a clap of thunder and saw the lightning hit the ground. Shock filled his system when he found himself facing his father along with his three sisters and one of his brothers. None of them were multiplex elementals, but they were powerful in their own right. His oldest sister, Tasha could call on the air, the middle, Sandra could call on water, the youngest, Chloe earth, and his brother Bixby could call on fire. He wasn’t worried what they would do to him, since their powers couldn’t affect him, but they damn sure could kill anyone else in Drago.
“You have entered territory without permission. Leave now and no one has to be hurt.” Pit snarled, as he landed and slipped off of Azul’s back.
Gio’s father laughed, “And who is going to make us leave? You? Your pitiful dragon? Who has the power to take out five elementals?”
Gio watched as one dragon after another landed and with each one another D.O.A. agent or two slid to the ground and stood next to Pit, until every one of them were facing Gio’s father and siblings.
“You think you’re a match for me and my family? We are elementals. We call upon our element and we destroy what we aim for. Hand over Giovani and no one will be hurt.” Gio’s father stated.
If Gio had thought his father would do as he said, he would have gladly gone with the man, but Gio knew better. He had heard his father make so many promises and the second he got what he wanted he would renege on each and every promise that spewed from his mouth.
“You forget how well I know you, father! You’ll just take me and then kill everyone here. It’s you that needs to go. You, Tasha, Sandra, Chloe and Bixby all need to leave.”
“You will be silent, boy, and get your fucking ass over here where you belong! I have searched for you for twenty five years and will not leave without you!” his father screamed. Thunder echoing around them.
Shaking his head, Gio snarled, “I’m not going anywhere with you, you son of a bitch! I’ll kill you all before I step one foot off of Drago land.”
“You?” His father asked, as he laughed, “The spineless little prick that refused to kill that fucking Feeb thinks he’s going to kill me? Your sisters? Your own brother? Tell me, Giovani, how exactly do you think you’re going to do all this killing? Because if anyone is going to die tonight, it isn’t going to be me.”
Gio noticed how he didn’t make the same promise about his siblings. Looking at his oldest sister, Gio asked, “You’d kill for him? Seriously Tasha? You would kill my mate? My family?”
Tasha looked ashamed for just one moment, then snarled, “I would die for my father.”
“Like Kace over there? You’d die for a man that did nothing but make your life a living hell? What of Gunther? Kyle? Hammond? Where are they? Teagan? Is he lurking around somewhere just
waiting to kill me and my family as well?” Gio asked knowing full well Teagan wasn’t about to jump out and do anything. No, his brother was currently in a coma after the damage his father had inflicted on him all because Gio said no.
“We are your family not them. They are abominations that must die.”
“Been there done that have the dragon to prove it.” Boomer snorted.
“Teagan is dead and the others refused to help. We are here to bring you home.” Bixby snapped bringing up a fireball and shooting it at Gio.
All hell broke loose the second the fireball hit Gio. He stumbled back as Cobra shouted his name, but as he tried to explain to the man, it did nothing else to him. However, when Bixby tossed another towards Cobra, Gio shouted, “No!” pushing out a fast sharp wind and tossing it back into Bixby.
Dragons took to the air, and Gio had enough time to see the men around him were flying on top of the dragons. Sandra’s hands opened wide as she faced the lake and pulled upward, Tasha spun her hands in circles until a huge water tornado lifted from the middle of the wave and shot out towards the dragons, knocking some of the men from their backs and causing the dragons to tumble in the air, barely gathering their wits before hitting the ground.
Gio quickly drew his own funnel cloud up, and caught the men before they hit the ground hard, gently laying them on the ground, then turned to his sisters and shot a bolt of lightning at each one, grazing Tasha on her side, but hitting Sandra dead on and watched her drop to the ground.
Feeling the earth shaking, Gio gasped as he saw Cobra was in hand-to-hand combat with Bixby, both men shaking like everyone else as a large fissure opened up next to them. Bixby became distracted and left an opening for Cobra to perform a roundhouse kick, knocking Bixby into the giant hole Chloe had opened, her screaming, “No!”
Once Bixby disappeared, Chloe screeched, “You will die!”
“Bring it on, bitch.” Cobra snarled, getting back in his fighter stance.
Things began to shake so hard, branches fell from the trees and even trees began to rip out of the ground, falling to the ground all around them.
Gio shot a wind gust towards the objects tossing them back and away from his sentience. Dragons were breathing fire, towards Sandra, backing her up further and further. Gio saw that they were trying to force her close to the fissure and drop her in just as Cobra had done to Bixby. However, Sandra was too smart for that, and jerked one hand up, then another, calling upon her ice stakes and flinging one after the other towards the dragons and their maharishi. Gio shot fireballs out as fast as he could, melting them before they could touch either dragon or man.
Gunner rushed forward just as Sandra shot out smaller nail size icicles, and before Gio could do anything, they hit their mark and Gunner dropped to the ground. His maharishi went insane, rushing towards Gio’s oldest sister slicing away the ice bullets she kept throwing out, until he was on top of her, ripping off her head, spitting it on the ground, then lifting his head high, screeching loud enough for people to hear for miles around.
“Where is Marceli?” Pit shouted out, looking around the parklands.
“He took off, but Azul was following him.” Wiz shouted out as he flew back, and hit the ground hard when Chloe created a rolling quake.
“You can’t win this, Chloe. Sandra and Bixby are dead, and father has left you on your own. Stop this now and go home.” Gio stated firmly, prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep the people around him as well as the dragons safe.
“Home? What home? There is no home and hasn’t been a home in over twenty-five years, Gio. You left us!” Chloe screamed.
Gio shouted back, “He had me chained to a fucking bed and was ready to kill me. As far as I knew he had already killed Teagan. What did you expect me to do?”
“And what did you think would happen when you left? What did you think our father would do when his precious multiplex elemental son left? He almost killed me, Sandra and Bixby.”
“Kyle wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. He told me…”
“Kyle, Gunther, and Hammond left the same night you did!” Chloe screamed, as the ground rolled once more.
Shaking his head, Gio murmured, “No. That can’t be. Kyle came in and released me. I told him I shouldn’t go, that father would be angry and take it out on all of you. He insisted that everything would be fine. He would take care of all of you. When I left, I was almost dead. I got help, healed. I… tried to hide, but father kept finding me, and then I came here.”
“Kyle came to all of us. He wanted us all to leave. He said he found us a safe place to be. He never told us he had freed you. We voted and Kyle was outvoted. Everyone went to bed, but when father returned, it was only the four of us left. Kyle and the others were all gone. Father went insane. He beat us to within an inch of our lives, demanding to know where you were, where you all were, but we didn’t know.” Chloe cried.
Gio started forward, but Cobra was quick to grab him by the arm, stopping him from moving anywhere.
“Father became even more insane when you all left. When those guys came to our home looking for father…gods I thought he would kill Bixby that day.” Chloe said sniffling.
“You mean the D.O.A. agents?” Gio asked in confusion.
Chloe nodded, “He said the only way anyone would have known what he was up to and would turn him in was you and he was pissed. He took us and made us run away with him, but every time we thought things were quiet and father was ready to make a big deal, some guy named Cobra would find us and we had to run again. Father worked the cartel from underground, but the idea that this guy would make him run like a fearful rat, pissed father off and he told us that he knew what he had to do, it was just going to take a bit of time to complete the training, but he said he was gonna make Cobra squirm.”
“He sent those letters for the past twenty five years didn’t he?” Cobra asked.
Nodding, Chloe cried, “Yes! He wanted to make you guys look over your shoulder like he had to do, especially Cobra.”
“I can’t believe you guys joined with our father to kill me.” Gio whispered sadly.
Chloe hissed, “You have no idea the pain and fear we lived with all these years. Father was a mad man and trust me, what he did to you and Tea wasn’t even close to the things he did to Bixby, and the rest of us. Then a few months ago he came to us really excited. You had been found. Someone from some biker gang had cashed in on the bounty father had put on your head. He tried to get them to steal you away, but the guy said there was no way it could be done. He told father that it was a death sentence for them to enter into Drago and no one would be stupid enough to try. Father came up with a plan.”
“And look how well that played out for you.” Cobra snarled.
The sobs coming from his sister broke Gio’s heart. She kept murmuring, “You’re all gone. Everyone is gone. I have no one left.”
Gio pulled out of Cobra’s hold and slowly went to his sister, kneeling on the ground, taking her in his arms. “You’re not alone, Chloe. You have me. I’m right here. No one here will hurt you.”
“Gio.” Cobra warned.
Shaking his head, Gio softly said, “She can’t go back home, Cobra. I can’t let her go back there. Chloe has always been a soft sweetheart. She loves being in her garden attending to her vegetables and flowers. She isn’t a killer. No matter what happened here… she isn’t a killer. She’s a scared and abused woman, doing what she had to do to survive. Just like I had to do.”
Turning to Pit, Gio begged, “Please, Pit. She isn’t a killer.”
“I can’t trust her to stay in our home, Gio.” Pit stated calmly.
“She can stay in my old place. I’ll be living with Cobra. I’ll take full responsibility for her. Please, Pit. She’s my sister.” Gio begged.
Cobra went to Gio, and knelt with him, Taco made his way to his other side, suggesting, “What if we put a guard on her for now. She can live in Gio’s old place and we can watch her. We already have patrol
s out we just make sure her place is watched as well.”
Everyone was so intent on Chloe, Gio and his mates no one noticed his father pointing a gun at Gio, until a loud shout, “No!” and then a bright flash of lightning shooting toward the man, but not stopping until Marceli Pasteli’s dead body hit the ground.
Gio turned to see Kace sitting up with his arms out in front of him pushing out more and more electricity until it stopped and Kace slouched to the ground. Jude shouted, “Shit!” Checked for a pulse, then immediately started CPR.
Gio gasped, holding onto Cobra tightly, but no amount of chest percussions or life breaths were going to bring the man back.
EPILOGUE
“What’s going on, Pit?” Wiz asked as he, Nautical and Eagle made their way towards their leader and all the other D.O.A. agents and the sentiences as the maharishi stood next to each of the men... well, all the dragons except for those flying above their heads.
It had been mere hours since the battle took place with Gio’s family, and damn it, all any of the men wanted to do was sleep for the next ten hours or so.
Shaking his head, Pit replied, “I have no idea. I got a message just like all of you did to get to the park.”
“More like a compulsion.” Gunner said, rubbing his chest as he sat on a chair someone must have brought to him.
“Damn, Gun, you should be in bed not out here. I’m surprised Jude even let you come here.” Sparky said, making his way towards the rest of them.
“What the hell took you so long, Sparky. You’re the last to arrive.” Pit grumbled.
Sparky shrugged, saying, “I was sitting with Teagan. Needed to make sure he was doing alright.”
“You’ve been with Teagan more than I have. What’s up with that?” Gio asked curiously.
Shrugging, Sparky muttered, “I read that even people in comas can hear someone when they speak, so I figured I could read to him and stuff. The guys gotta know he isn’t in a bad place and that the threat to him is gone.”