Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
A s we shoved out of the way, Betty and Candy scrambled toward the door as Brad hesitated. I grabbed his elbow, falling behind the others.
The dragon that was Silas Milner continued to rage, tearing up booths with his claws, smashing the windows with his tail. Iris sprinted out of the way, leaping over the back of their booth toward the back door.
“Did you know he could do that?” I yelled at Cassander.
“I suspected he could shift…” Cassander flattened himself as Milner threw one of the stools at us. I grabbed Brad, tugging him down with me to avoid the next one, and we all crawled toward the door. Betty held it open, gesturing with her hand.
Out in the parking lot, we found ourselves surrounded by a loose circle of motorcycle club members, each of them expressionless behind their reflective sunglasses.
“Well, it seems like our boss has a problem with you.” The one in the center crossed his arms over his chest. “Which means we have a problem with you.”
I glanced at Candy and Betty, both of whom looked at me expectantly.
“We don’t have to. You guys could walk away,” I suggested, “because things are about to go pretty badly for your boss.”
They chuckled, like it was funny, and I shrugged. “Have it your way. I hope you enjoy getting beaten up by two girls and a lawyer.”
The chuckling stopped, and almost in unison, they lunged at us, but we were faster. Betty pulled up her baseball bat and slammed it against the knee of the nearest club member. He went down with a cry, and the guy next to him lunged for Betty, but Candy was right there, spraying him in the eyes with mace.
Brad cleared his throat, then reached for his shirt, tearing it open as he shifted. If I hadn’t seen a fully grown man turn into a dragon only moments earlier, I would have been shocked at the way his body reformed itself, twisting and contorting into something completely strange.
The leader came at me, but I held up a hand, and he paused, startled by the motion. I pulled the coin out of my pocket, flipping it in the air. It landed raven side up, and I tossed it at him. Automatically, the leader caught it and looked at the gold coin in his hand. I punched him hard, hard enough to at least send him a few steps back, but he tripped over a concrete bar that hadn’t been there the moment before and fell with a heavy crack.
I reached into my pocket and found the coin returned to me. I grinned, flipping it again. Dragon side up. I tossed it at Cassander where he was toying with two other motorcycle club members. He caught it in one hand, then ducked to avoid a punch. The motorcycle club member overshot, hitting his friend instead, and both of them spun like they were in a cartoon, falling to the ground unconscious.
Cassander tossed the coin back to me, and I flipped it in the air. Dragon side up. I turned around, looking for my next target, but Candy had four men on the ground, all covering their faces and crying hysterically, the red from the pepper spray streaking their faces. Betty had taken out two and was prodding one with the baseball bat.
I only recognized Brad because he was still wearing his tie, even though he’d abandoned his shirt and slacks. He was growling and nipping at one of the motorcycle club members, and the man stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.
“Now we just need to get out of here, right?” I asked Cassander.
“Yes. Whatever penance is written into his contract with my brother will come due an—” Cassander’s eyes went wide as the entire front wall of the diner exploded outward, followed by a very angry dragon. I ducked just at the right second, the coin’s luck holding.
Then I rolled, throwing the coin at Cassander. He caught it in one hand and managed to avoid a swipe, leaping up in the air and landing on the roof of one of the cars. He scrambled down the back as the dragon lifted the front end of it, tossing it to the side.
Candy and Betty stumbled back toward Betty’s truck, and I couldn’t even spare them a glance because Silas was bearing down on me.
I reached into my pocket, found the coin there, but I didn’t even have time to flip it before I was pinned beneath the massive claw. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and turned my head. Iris was leading a group of five members of Green Scales out from the back of the diner, and they didn’t have baseball bats and mace. They wielded automatic weapons.
Desperately, I threw the coin at Candy. Surprised, she held up her hands but managed to catch it at the last second. Just as she did, one of the members of Green Scales tripped, taking down two of the others, one of them pressing down on the trigger and taking out a third.
It gave Candy and Betty time to find cover behind her truck. I was going to owe Betty a brand-new truck by the end of this. If we survived, I was going to have car payments for the rest of my life.
Brad threw back his head, howling. At first, I didn’t hear anything other than the thrum of my pulse in my ears, but a heartbeat later, I heard another howl and then a third.
Silas moved his head back and forth, growling low in his throat. I felt the vibration, felt the hot air of his breath. He loosened his claw just enough for me to crawl out from under him, sprinting toward the cover Candy and Betty had found.
Bullets followed my footsteps, but I landed behind the truck, sliding on loose dirt, falling to my hip hard. Cassander hauled me up to my feet, his eyes dark.
“I need a sword,” he muttered unhappily.
“I need a gun,” I complained.
“There’s plenty of guns lying around.” Cassander gestured at the fallen members of Green Scales. “None of your humans seem to understand the benefit of a good blade .”
“I’ll take that into consideration the next time I get us into a battle with an international crime syndicate.” I pulled the coin from my pocket again, flipping it in the air. Raven.
Randomly, I threw it toward Iris. With a frown, she bent down and picked it up. I used her distraction, glancing at Cassander. Wordlessly, he nodded.
We both ran toward her. I went low, he went high, and when I took out her knees, he grabbed the gun from her hand, turning it and firing at the other members of Green Scales. They took cover behind one of their SUVs, and Iris groaned on the ground.
When I reached into my pocket, I felt hot breath on my back. The coin had come back to me, raven side up. My luck was about to get very, very bad unless I could pass it to someone else.
Silas Milner was at my back, and I turned just as he opened his mouth wide. I dropped, throwing the coin toward his mouth.
He choked on it, rearing back and coughing. I covered my head as, with each hacking cough, spurts of fire came from between his lips, burning the gray-black asphalt of the parking lot.
The coin flew free, landing beside me, dragon side up. I picked it up, rolling out of the way. Cassander fired his gun, the bullets hitting the dragon’s side, and Milner growled at him, the sound building to a roar.
It set off car alarms, and I slapped my hands over my ears. Only, I could feel something building inside of me. Something hot and molten, shifting underneath my skin.
Milner wanted to hurt my family. Milner wanted to kill them. Milner wasn’t going to get the chance.
Around me, the world froze, unmoving. Everything seemed brighter, like I’d walked out of the movie theater back into the sunlight, and everything was crisp, pure colors, the greens greener, the distant mountains gold, the sunset coloring the sky unreal hues.
And everything seemed to get smaller. I raised my head, a growl building in my chest that came out of my mouth as I stared Silas in the eyes because… Because now it was my turn to shift like silly putty, to be squeezed through a child’s fingers and become something completely magical.
I was a dragon. I roared again, and Silas reared his head back, throwing his mouth up as he blew a mountain of fire into the sky. It pressed heat down beneath us, turning the asphalt back to liquid, so hot that even through my thick, reptilian skin, I could feel it.
There was movement, and I turned my head. Wolves came from every direction, howling. The members of Green Scales that were standing scrambled back, even Iris, her eyes going wide because now between my sister, running back around the truck, pepper spray raised, Betty holding a baseball bat and an expression of complete disdain, and a pack of wolves, they were firmly outnumbered.
Something hard hit me. I fell, snarling in pain, but it was too late. Silas had taken advantage of my distraction. He pushed himself up, flapping his wings briefly before landing hard on top of me.
He roared again and raised a claw, swiping it across my chest brutally. I felt my scales give way, blood rising to the surface, even though inside of myself, I could feel burning, as though fire itself was supposed to come out of the split flesh.
Enraged, I threw myself up, pressing him back, swinging with my tail to take out one of his back feet. But he was older than me, more experienced in this form, and he dodged out of the way, coming perilously close to where Candy had taken refuge behind one of the cars. I had to get him away from my sister and friends. I had to get him somewhere we could fight freely.
He solved the problem for me, pushing himself up, launching himself into the sky. I saw what he was doing. He intended to land on top of me, use his weight and claws to tear my throat out.
I wasn’t going to let him. Crouching, I jumped, the feeling of my wings spreading as natural as breathing. I pushed, pumping them up and down until I was airborne. The diner and parking lot shrank in my view, and I looked ahead.
Desert Flower, with all of its expansive sprawl, was spread out for me, and deep in my chest, I felt a sort of possessive need. This was mine . And Silas Milner, with his greed and avarice, wasn’t going to take it from me.
From the side, Milner swept toward me, his form lean as he pulled his wings in tight, trying to ram me. I pumped my wings hard, dodging out of the way, and he sped past me. Then, it was my turn to dive, aiming straight for his back.
He roared, spinning in place and opening his jaws wide to release a stream of fire. It should have hurt; it should have left me in the ICU for weeks, suffering from the sort of burns that destroyed lives. Instead, it felt like a warm shower, a cleansing spray that washed me of the last of my humanity.
All I knew was that this was the dragon who had killed my father, and this was the dragon that wanted to take my hoard from me. He wanted to take my sister, he wanted to take Betty, he wanted to take Junior and Riley. He wanted to take Brad, who I was just getting to know. Hell, he wanted to take Leonard, and if you’d asked me, two hours ago, I wouldn’t have minded if Leonard fell into an open manhole.
I flew through the flames, slamming into him hard, the angle sending his head up, his neck twisted. He grabbed at me with his front claws, his back ones coming up to rake across my chest, but I was faster. I grabbed at his throat, tearing at the scales. They came away underneath my claws, raining down on the ground until I could see flesh, see the cartilage of his throat.
He tried to blow fire again, but some of it came out of the wound at his neck.
I was still pumping my wings hard, keeping both of us aloft, and he clawed down my chest, his talons raking painful lines through my scales. Then he used his wings to pull away, trying for a roar, but blood bubbled up, dripping from his teeth.
His eyes narrowed, and he flew toward me, wings pumping hard, but I was ready for him, flying up again and then straight down, landing hard, sending us both slamming into the street below. We were just outside the diner, the empty street clear of cars, thankfully.
I had no idea how much a dragon weighed, but my guess was more than an elephant and slightly less than a house, meaning whatever car might have been caught beneath us would have the unique Wizard of Oz experience.
One of Milner’s wings hung broken as he got to his feet, mouth still working.
He roared at me, blood dripping onto the pavement. I closed my eyes, searching for the piece inside of me that was still human, that hadn’t succumbed to the blood rage I felt beating under my skin.
As I pulled, I felt the world around me grow in size, aware that it was simply a change in perspective as I shifted back into my human form. When I opened my eyes, the sky was beginning to fade to darkness, and Silas Milner seemed to glow.
“It doesn’t have to be like this.” I held my chest, where I could feel myself bleeding. “You killed my dad, but that doesn’t mean we need to kill each other.”
Milner growled, and then he lunged forward. I danced out of the way, smaller and more agile now that he was wounded and striking out with desperation.
“We can have peace. We don’t need to drag this entire town into a war that’s only going to leave bodies and no winners. You have the entire world. You don’t need Desert Flower too.”
Milner’s eyes flashed, and his skin glowed even brighter, a flare gone off in the desert night. He lifted his head, roaring in a sick, bubbling sound. Then he lunged at me, but something got between me and him.
It looked almost like a lion mixed with a goat, only with a horn coming straight from between its mane. Deep blue scales ran down its sides and back.
“Give up, Silas. You have done wrong. You have done enough wrong to be sent to the afterlife many times over.” I gaped as the thing spoke in Officer Choi’s voice.
The dragon reared back, then lunged forward, and Choi bent his head, tapping at the closest paw with his horn. Milner’s eyes went wide, and he shrieked, mouth opening as though he was seeing a horror no one else could. He clutched at his chest, a wound opening that revealed his heart.
It turned black, shriveling into nothingness.
Milner fell, collapsing on his side, dead.
“So,” I laughed, even though I wasn’t sure what I felt at all. “Officer Choi, what a surprise to see you here.”
He turned to me, eyes narrowed. “And you, dragon of the desert, what are your intentions?”
“Honestly, at this point, probably some medical attention.” I collapsed down onto my knees.
Cassander shouted my name, sprinting from where he and Iris Milner had been squaring off. He wrapped his arms around me, pressing his palm to my chest.
“It’s not that bad,” I said, looking up into his face. I tried for a smile and passed out.