Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Seeing Malone chilled me, but oddly enough, I worried more about Iolana than myself. The man had colder blood than a reptile and a chilling sadistic streak that meant he wouldn’t hesitate to harm my servant.
My human who’d come for me.
Who’d cared enough to put herself in danger.
Who might now die.
It bothered. Bothered me intensely enough my tummy churned and began to bloat, filling with pressure that emerged in a loud Pfft.
It should be noted dragons did not expel gas like humans and other animals. Even when we did evacuate our bowels, there was little stench, for our bodies absorbed everything of use and the waste that remained? Usually just hard pellets of minerals we couldn’t process.
So the smell that followed my toot? Unexpected and, while it didn’t bother me, the humans began to cough.
Iolana, closest to me, retched, spewing the contents of her belly in a liquid and chunky stream that didn’t want to stop.
Malone gagged, but standing in the doorway, where fresher air streamed in, he didn’t puke.
He did hold his breath, however, as he lunged for my cage.
He grabbed hold of it and went to exit, only to find himself in a tugging war with Iolana, who, despite her streaming eyes and gasping breath, held on to my prison.
“Let go!” Malone spat. A threat to which he added a bullet.
Into my Iolana.
With a cry of pain, because the hole streaming blood in her shoulder probably really hurt, she released her grip on my cage and fell to the floor. Malone quickly exited the aircraft with my cage, stomping down the steps before exhaling loudly and then taking several deep breaths of fresh air.
He then held up my prison to gaze upon me with a calculating glint in his eyes. “A poison-gas-spewing dragon. Not exactly what I would have preferred, but you could have some interesting uses.”
Of all the abilities to inherit, why did mine have to be the most useless?
See, while the humans and other living beings might be affected by my noxious expelling, other dragons would only be slightly bothered, putting me at a distinct disadvantage in the fight for supreme ruler of the world.
Not that I’d even end up in the running given my current situation.
“Since you ruined my jet, guess we’ll need to find another ride,” Malone muttered as he began to strut away from the plane. Away from Iolana, who required immediate removal from the poisoned air I’d accidentally unleashed and given medical assistance before it was too late.
“You wretched, evil man,” I hollered while grabbing the bars and punily shaking them. “Release me this instant. Iolana needs help.”
“No.”
One word.
One frustrating refusal that had me gnashing my teeth, and with a yell of rage, I clenched and expelled a fart, intentionally this time. Orange vapor emerged, but Malone held his breath and kept striding, moving away from the poison cloud, which quickly dissipated.
“What a useless power,” Malone taunted. “Only good for enclosed rooms. You’ll have to try harder to hurt me.”
A sour taste filled my mouth at the truth of his words. “I will kill you.”
“Says the runt,” Malone mocked. “The puniest of the litter with an ability easily circumvented.”
“I will ribbon your flesh with my claws,” I growled.
“Not if I have them removed. Maybe we’ll take out your teeth too, and then what will you do?”
“My poison will get stronger.”
“Easily countered with a hazmat suit, although I’m wondering if there’s a point keeping you alive. Perhaps I’ll dissect you instead. Imagine what I could learn.”
What an ignoble death. As my impotence and fear thickened, an acrid phlegm built in my throat.
“What, nothing to say? Now there’s a first,” Malone taunted, holding up my cage to meet my gaze.
I stared upon his ugly face. Smug. So sure he’d won. By all accounts he had. He was right. I lacked the size to properly fight. I could fart poison all I wanted, but so long as he remained outside, it wouldn’t affect him. All I had was a mouth full of bitter disappointment, which I spat.
The gob of brilliant orange and yellow goo hit the bars of my cage, but some of it made it through, spattering Malone’s cheek.
A cheek that began steaming, which probably explained the sudden screaming.
Malone let go of my cage, and it hit the ground, jolting me hard.
I recovered in time to see Malone, a hand pressed to his face, huffing and wailing.
He drew his hand away from the hole in his cheek, where I could see the white gleam of his teeth. “What did you do?” he screamed.
“Proved that I’m a force to be reckoned with,” I retorted. It appeared my poison didn’t just come out of my ass, for one. I had toxic spit that burned.
As if uncertain of his next move, Malone stared at me then glanced past me before muttering, “Fuck.” Without another word, he fled.
Victory! I’d saved myself, but that didn’t help me get out of my cage and return to my poor Iolana. It also left me a sitting dragon when a shadow fell over me.
A glance upward showed a very large man towering over me. “Hello there, little guy.”
I eyed him suspiciously. Why did this stranger address me? Had he been the real reason Malone fled?
The stranger crouched, and I readied myself to spit. “Before you attack, my name is Maddox. I’m a friend of Abaddon’s. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of him?”
Upon hearing the name mentioned by Malone, my eyes widened. “He sent you to kill me?”
“What? No.” Maddox chuckled. “I actually came to Hawaii to find out what Malone was up to and drag his ass back to our ranch.”
“If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be chasing him?”
“Malone can run as far and fast as he likes; I’ll still find him.
He has yet to realize we planted a tracker inside one of his teeth.
I’ll grab him after we get you out of this cage and somewhere safe.
” Maddox pulled out a knife, the kind that flipped open from a handle, and wedged it into the lock before twisting. Snap.
Freedom!
“Thank you,” I stated. “You have my gratitude, but if you’ll excuse me, Iolana, she’s hurt. I must find her help.”
“Lead the way, little guy, and I’ll see what I can do.”
I might have taken offence at his name for me but for the fact that, compared to him, I was more than little; I was teeny tiny. Abaddon had enlisted quite the large servant.
I scampered as fast as my legs could go, seeing ahead of me Apollo kneeling on the pavement, Keanu pacing, and Iolana…
She lay on the ground, and even paces away, I could hear her labored breathing.
No. Oh no.
Panic had me putting on a burst of speed. I made it to her side to see Apollo had his hands pressed to her bleeding wound, looking grim.
“Is she going to be all right?” I cried.
“I don’t know,” Apollo’s soft reply. “The bullet hole itself isn’t that bad. I don’t think it hit anything vital, but she’s having a tough time breathing. There was some kind of gas in the jet.”
Poison. My poison. I’d killed her.
No. Oh no. I crawled up onto her chest, avoiding the side with the injury, bringing myself close enough to see her pale and trembling features. My brave Iolana. My outspoken servant who didn’t immediately agree with everything I said. Who cared for me enough to brave danger.
“Don’t die,” I whispered as I rubbed my snout on her cheek.
Her lashes fluttered, and she rasped, “So glad. You’re. Safe.”
Even now, she thought only of my wellbeing, even as her breathing became even more labored. Keanu began to wail.
Tears pricked my eyes, even though dragons never cried. Drops fell from mine, though, scalding hot. They hit Iolana’s skin, sinking into her flesh, and despite not farting or feeling any explosive pressure, something oozed from me. A mist she breathed in, causing me to recoil.
Don’t tell me I’d poisoned her even further.
To my shock, though, her breathing began to ease and the sickly pallor in her skin began to fade.
It took her opening her eyes and then smiling at me as she said, “What smells so nice?” for me to realize I’d cured her.
I wasn’t just a poisoner. I could heal too.
Maybe I could still conquer the world.