Chapter 13 #2
Goddamn it, I couldn’t leave this creature to rampage through the rest of the building, even if it was filled with the worst people on the planet. More than that, if it escaped the building, innocent people would be killed.
I refused to have that on my conscience.
With sweat dripping down my brow, I advanced on it.
This time, the dragon was more prepared for my assault.
It whipped its bloodied maw in my direction and snapped, razor-sharp teeth clipping through my shirt.
I jolted back. The teeth just scarcely grazed my skin, tugging and ripping a jagged hole in the fabric.
An inch closer, and my heart would have been in its teeth.
Hissing, I dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way—close enough to bring myself to its chest. I tried to ignore the gory mess of the guard it was currently devouring, tried not to imagine that it would be me next.
Bullets had been little use, but at this proximity, I could make out a gap between the scales as the dragon breathed. With a grunt, I grasped the sword’s handle in both hands and heaved up, driving the blade through the dragon’s chest.
The howl the beast gave was one of pure agony. A pang of sorrow shot through me—something I’d never felt during a hunt before. I had to do this, but I didn’t want to.
There was a brief resistance of powerful muscle, and its writhing dragged me halfway across the floor as it backed away, abandoning its already-dead prey. Gaining traction on my knees, I gripped the handle and gave one final jerk upward, pushing the blade all the way to the hilt through its chest.
For a second, I worried I may have missed the heart. After all, I could only guess at the exact spot.
But finally, the monster wavered and slumped, falling motionless onto the blood-slick ground with a bone-rattling thud.
I got to my feet, watching its slitted eyes fervently for any twitch.
My ears rang in the wake of my adrenaline, heart still pounding like a runaway train.
I’d just slayed a fucking dragon, and a part of me wished Cliff had been here to witness it.
He’d be jealous of his goddamn mind when he heard about this.
Another part of me still wished I’d never had to do it at all. Yes, it was capable of horrors, but I couldn’t shake its pathetic posture in the cage—reluctant to even remove itself from the captivity it had come to know so well.
I grimaced, withdrawing the sword from the dragon’s chest as reverently as I could manage. For the first time, I noted the bright blood had flecks of silver to it.
“Great plan,” Lee said dryly.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when he appeared beside me, a sheen of sweat dotting his brow.
Abandoning the dripping sword, I surveyed the room and shrugged. Minimal body count despite the mess and the fresh dragon blood plastering my torn shirt against my body like wet paper.
“Wasn’t so bad,” I said, each word a breathless syllable as I plucked at the tattered fabric on my left shoulder. Beneath, only hairline scratches from the dragon’s teeth lay against my skin.
Lee gave a cold, humorless scoff. “Your life continues to astound and disturb.”
Smirking, I dropped beside the nearest guard and hurriedly stripped him of his weapons. Judging by the full magazine, this one didn’t have time to use his second handgun before the dragon got to him. He even had a couple of blades—silver and iron, by the looks of it.
Finding another full handgun among another guard’s artillery, I held it out to Lee. He raised his hands and took a step back like it might bite.
“No thanks,” he said.
“You realize what we’re about to walk into, don’t you?”
“That’s just not how I do things.”
“Cabrón,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face. “Look, you can go back to your pacifist code tomorrow. But tonight? This is life and death. I can’t promise I can cover you if something goes wrong.”
“It’s not pacifism, it’s—” Lee faltered, dragging a hand back through his hair. He looked so wild, unraveled, that it disarmed me. “I didn’t murder those idiots at Archer Tech. I was puppeted. I was used and forced to pull that trigger.”
I recoiled. “By who?”
Lee’s jaw feathered. He held my gaze fervently, like he was debating whether to continue at all.
Like he was desperate to say. Eventually, the fire in his stare dimmed in resignation, and he broke our stalemate, looking at the floor.
“Doesn’t matter. Point is, I haven’t been the same since then.
Every time I fire one of those fucking things, I see their blood on my hands. ”
I studied him, replaying everything I knew about the Archer incident in my head. My mind drifted back to Ben and Delilah. If he were lying to protect someone, they would be at the top of the list.
But much as it pained me, my curiosity would have to remain unsated.
I ambled over and shoved the guard’s body aside, locating a taser on his belt. Unholstering it, I tossed the palm-sized weapon to Lee. “Here. Does this work?”
Lee nodded, a silent understanding passing between us.
I knelt by the corpse one last time and picked up the silver sword.
It was certainly sharp enough to saw through flesh and bone without too much hassle—convenient, given one of the requirements of the steel door awaiting us in the final hall.
Lee gagged when he saw what I was doing.
“For the biometrics scan,” I said, holding out the guard’s severed hand.
“Jesus.” Lee shuddered. “I’ll let you do the honors. Thank fuck it’s not a retinal scan.”